Kliff Kingsbury gets one over on former nemesis Baker Mayfield in NFL playoffs

Few Texas Tech football fans have forgotten the drama that unfolded between Kliff Kingsbury and Baker Mayfield when the two both called Lubbock home in 2013. That's why Sunday night's win for Kingsbury's Washington Commanders over Mayfield's Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of the NFL playoffs was especially satisfying.

Thanks to a last-second field goal that clanged off of the right upright before going over the crossbar, the Commanders won in Tampa 23-20 to advance to the Divisional Round of the playoffs where they will meet No. 1 seed Detroit on Saturday night in The Motor City.

As offensive coordinator for the Commanders, Kingsbury called a fantastic game. Guiding his rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels through his first-ever playoff game, a road start nonetheless, he saw his offense put up 350 yards and go 11-20 combined on third and fourth down (including 3-5 on fourth down).

Kingsbury is known for putting the ball in the air and having a high-flying offense but against a stout Buccaneers defense, he called a ball-control game that saw the Commanders have possession for 35:26 or the 60:00 of play.

As for Daniels, the former LSU Tiger and 2023 Heisman Trophy winner, he was excellent going 24-35 for 268 yards and a pair of TDs. He also led his team in rushing with 36 yards on 13 carries. Perhaps most importantly, though, he didn't commit any turnovers.

The same could not be said for Mayfield. With Tampa leading 17-13 early in the fourth quarter, Mayfield and his running back couldn't connect on a handoff leading to a fumble that Washington recovered at the Tampa 13. Just four plays later, Kingsbury's offense would find the endzone to take a 20-17 lead.

For the game, Mayfield was pedestrian at best. He attempted only 18 passes and though he completed 15 of them, he threw for only 185 yards (though he did throw two TD passes). Essentially, he was out-played by the rookie, Daniels, in the biggest game of his season.

When the game was on the line, it was Daniels and Kingsbury who came through. Washington took over possession at the 4:41 mark of the fourth quarter with the game tied at 20, Kingsbury's offense proceeded to methodically march 51 yards in 10 plays eating up the entirety of the clock before kicker Zane Gonzalez doinked home the 37-yard field goal to end the game.

Though few people know what the relationship between Kingsbury and Mayfield is like over a decade after their unamicable divorce in Lubbock, it will always be staifsying for Texas Tech fans to see Kingsbury prevail when matched up against his former college QB.

In 2013, Kingsbury's first season as a college head coach, Mayfield was a true freshman walk-on QB at Texas Tech who started six games and appeared in eight for the Red Raiders. He threw for 2,315 yards with 12 TDs and 9 picks helping Tech to a 7-5 regular season.

But prior to that season's bowl game, Mayfield lost a mini quarterback competition to fellow true freshman Davis Webb. As a result, Mayfield left Texas Tech before the bowl game only to shortly turn up at Oklahoma where he would finish his college career.

Mayfield did all he could to try to paint Kingsbury as the villain in their breakup. He claimed that Kingsbury wasn't going to put him on scholarship and his father even referred to Kingsbury as a "scoundrel" when Kingsbury refused to support a waiver Mayfield filed to be able to play immediately in 2014 instead of having to sit out a year per NCAA rules at the time.

For quite some time after leaving Texas Tech, even as he was having success in Norman, Mayfield played the victim and did everything he could to run Kingsbury's name through the mud. In return, Kingsbury took the high road and refused to return fire even though that could have helped him appear as a more sympathetic figure in the whole debacle.

That's why it will always be easy to root for Kingsbury when he crosses paths with Mayfield. The two matched wits on Sunday night on a huge stage and it was Kingsbury who prevailed. Though there has been plenty of water pass under the bridge since the two had their falling out in Lubbock, Texas Tech fans haven't forgotten and that made the Commanders' last-second win rather enjoyable for folks all around Raiderland.